Former slaughterhouse owner admits to distributing contaminated beef

One of the former owners of a Petaluma slaughterhouse pleaded guilty on Friday of knowingly distributing meat from diseased cows.

Robert Singleton, 77, faces three years in jail for his role in processing contaminated meat out of Rancho Feeding Corporation in Petaluma, the company he co-owned with Jesse Amaral.

Federal authorities say 76-year-old Amaral and two employees would chop off the heads of cancerous cows so they could pass USDA inspections. That lead to the recall of 8.7 million pounds of beef earlier this year.